1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,500 So, okay, bear with me. 2 00:00:11,500 --> 00:00:18,720 The Last of Us Season 2, it's no longer Cordyceps, it's now Masospora, Cicadina has taken over, 3 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:23,080 and all remaining humans become infected with it, and are running around having a giant 4 00:00:23,080 --> 00:00:24,080 orgy. 5 00:00:24,080 --> 00:00:29,640 But, plot twist, no one has any genitals because they've fallen off, or any arses. 6 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:30,640 It's just... 7 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:37,960 It's a nightmare, that's what it is. 8 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:40,880 Hello and welcome to The Bisexual Biologist. 9 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:45,480 My name is Riley, your host of the show, and this is a podcast where we talk queerness, 10 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:47,400 nature, and everything in between. 11 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:51,400 Okay girlies, it's pride month, and to celebrate, cicadas are acting gay. 12 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:55,760 The recent super-emergence of periodical cicadas in their trillions across North America has 13 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:59,520 been dubbed cicada-geddon, the likes of which hasn't been seen in decades. 14 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:03,400 As the Great Southern Brood and the Northern Illinois Brood both reach their respective 15 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:08,480 13th and 17th years of life, triggering the grand emergence from the underground. 16 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:12,120 But there's a fatal twist, the majority of them will emerge infected by a fungal pathogen 17 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:16,280 that causes them to become extremely hypersexual, and even homosexual. 18 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:19,400 Let's jump into this gay version of a bug's life. 19 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:25,880 Okay, so before we dive into the main topic of this episode, the fatal infection of cicadas 20 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:30,720 by a fungal pathogen, let's do a little crash course on what a cicada is. 21 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:35,080 Because some of you may not know what a cicada is, you may never have seen one before, most 22 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:38,880 likely you would have heard one because they are extremely fucking loud. 23 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:43,900 If you have lived somewhere where they emerge in summertime, you will know that it is sometimes 24 00:01:43,900 --> 00:01:45,680 impossible to exist. 25 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,080 I remember once going outside to my parents place on a summer evening, you know, I wanted 26 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:54,000 to have a nice relaxing night, sit outside, with a beer, just you know, enjoy the serenity of 27 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:55,000 nature. 28 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:59,200 The cicadas were so noisy, I could not sit outside for longer than a minute. 29 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,440 My ears were ringing, it was deafening. 30 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:05,240 So cicadas, we love you, but God you are noisy. 31 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:06,800 Okay, so what's a cicada? 32 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:07,960 You might be asking. 33 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:14,160 Cicadas are insects, so they are from the class Insecta, the family Cicadidae, and the 34 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:18,000 genus Magi cicada is who we are going to be talking about today. 35 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:22,200 So there are seven species within this genus, and they are all found only within the eastern 36 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:24,480 parts of northern America. 37 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:29,920 So when you think of a cicada, it's a pretty stock standard insect, so think six legs and 38 00:02:29,920 --> 00:02:33,900 three body parts with a head, a thorax and an abdomen. 39 00:02:33,900 --> 00:02:38,720 They have wings as well when they have emerged into their final adult form. 40 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:43,360 So this particular group of seven species, as I said, was found only in northern America, 41 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:47,840 and they're known as periodical cicadas, as all individuals in the local population are 42 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:52,200 developmentally synchronized to emerge as adults at the same time. 43 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:56,560 So in the northern hemisphere, this usually occurs in early May into June, and that's 44 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:57,680 what a brood is. 45 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:01,440 So earlier I said the Great Southern Brood and the Northern Illinois Brood. 46 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:05,880 So a brood is the year or group of cicadas that were all born at the same year, and they 47 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,040 all emerge at the same time, 13 to 17 years later. 48 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:14,440 So they have a very interesting life cycle where 99% of it is spent underground in a 49 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:16,500 juvenile state known as a nymph. 50 00:03:16,500 --> 00:03:21,400 So in biology, a nymph is the juvenile form of invertebrates, particularly insects, which 51 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:23,560 undergo gradual metamorphosis. 52 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,280 Still got it. 53 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:27,880 Okay, so that's a nymph for you. 54 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:28,880 That's what that means. 55 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:30,920 So, okay, back to these cicadas. 56 00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:35,720 So as I was saying, they spend 99% of their lives underground as juveniles as nymphs, and 57 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:40,760 they spend majority of it just below the surface feeding on the roots of trees. 58 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:45,320 So whilst living underground in this nymph form, cicadas will feed on the xylem fluids 59 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,000 from the roots of deciduous trees above them. 60 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,920 In the spring of their 13th or 17th year of living underground, this particular genus 61 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:58,760 of cicadas, Magi cicada, the brood of nymphs will emerge at the same time and in tremendous 62 00:03:58,760 --> 00:03:59,760 numbers. 63 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,240 So when early May arrives in the Northern Hemisphere, the nymphs collectively build 64 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:06,920 exit tunnels and a mass exodus to the world above occurs. 65 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:11,760 This can sometimes happen overnight, with all brood members crawling free by sunrise. 66 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:16,200 And this can times often be like billions or trillions of cicadas. 67 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:20,280 So they're like everywhere, like all over the forest floor. 68 00:04:20,280 --> 00:04:21,920 Lots of bugs, lots of bugs. 69 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:25,480 From this point on, they will then attach themselves to the bark of a nearby tree and 70 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:30,320 undergo one final body transformation, which is molting their exoskeleton to reveal their 71 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:32,680 beautiful winged adult bodies. 72 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:36,920 In bugs life, when the beautiful caterpillar goes through his metamorphosis and comes out 73 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:40,880 as a beautiful butterfly with the tiniest little wings ever. 74 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:41,880 It's quite funny. 75 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:43,760 Back to cicadas and some fun facts. 76 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:50,920 So these Magi cicada species, the winged adults have two red compound eyes, a black dorsal 77 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:55,960 thorax, translucent wings with orange veins. 78 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:56,960 Sexy. 79 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,240 The abdomen may be orange, black or striped with orange and black. 80 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,760 Okay, so they can be orange on the under side, black on the under side, or they can have 81 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:05,680 a stripe of orange or black. 82 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,680 And they range from sizes from 2.4 to 3.3 centimetres. 83 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:13,360 So they're a little bit smaller than cicadas in Australia because the ones I am familiar 84 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:15,200 with here are much larger than that. 85 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,760 I would say they're like up to six centimetres for a big cicada. 86 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:22,220 And they're usually green, black or brown from memory. 87 00:05:22,220 --> 00:05:23,680 The black ones used to be really rare. 88 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:25,040 Anyway, going off topic. 89 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:29,440 And a fun little fact, which I find quite interesting is that they are able to tell 90 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,420 how many years they've been underground because they can count. 91 00:05:32,420 --> 00:05:36,560 So what these nymphs do, because they feed on the xylem, which is one of the tubules 92 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:38,920 of a plant, we have xylem and phloem. 93 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:40,480 Xylem is for water and minerals. 94 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:44,480 Phloem transports the nutrients or sugars that the plants make throughout the plant. 95 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:50,520 So the nymphs are able to detect changes in the structure of the xylem due to the trees 96 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:53,280 above which are deciduous, losing their leaves each autumn. 97 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:57,220 So they notice that the trees have dropped their leaves, the structure of the xylem will 98 00:05:57,220 --> 00:05:59,520 change, and they count that as a year. 99 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:00,520 They do this pretty well. 100 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:02,760 They can count to 13 or 17 spot on. 101 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:06,240 So I find that really interesting that a little insect can count to 13 or 17. 102 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:10,680 I can't do simple math in my head, so pretty cool for a little bug. 103 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:14,120 It can count to 13, 17, ...sexy 104 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:16,680 So I think we're pretty much on board with what a cicada is. 105 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:18,360 Insect, six legs, three body parts. 106 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:19,680 They can fly when they're adult. 107 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:21,620 They live underground for 99% of their lives. 108 00:06:21,620 --> 00:06:24,920 This particular species, group of species called Magicicada, what we're talking about, 109 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,600 only found in the northern, northeastern parts of North America. 110 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:32,840 Only found in the eastern parts of North America, I should say. 111 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:37,280 Once they have emerged, the adult life cycle or life stage is quite short, usually only 112 00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:39,960 four to six weeks, and it's only for mating. 113 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:42,520 There's not much else purpose to this stage of the life. 114 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:47,640 It's easy to come up after being on the ground for 17 years, come up, make some noise, have 115 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:49,040 a giant orgy, die. 116 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:50,800 Sounds pretty fun. 117 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,400 Once they shed their exoskeleton and emerge as fully fledged winged adults, they are active 118 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:56,420 for about four to six weeks. 119 00:06:56,420 --> 00:07:00,600 So after four to five days of the grand emergence of the brood, the males will begin singing 120 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:04,640 in choruses as the females wait nearby on trees. 121 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:08,840 The males alternate between singing and flying around until they find a suitable mate. 122 00:07:08,840 --> 00:07:12,380 Both sexes will mate with several partners during the adult life stage. 123 00:07:12,380 --> 00:07:17,840 The females can also lay up to 500 eggs and usually place the eggs in small slits of twigs 124 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:19,640 on trees or on the ground. 125 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:23,920 After this, the female will drop dead and then soon to be followed by the male, neither 126 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:25,560 living past early July. 127 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:29,760 The new nymphs will hatch and the journey underground as a collective new brood will 128 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:34,760 begin and they will emerge in either 13 to 17 years depending on the particular species 129 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:36,160 of this genus. 130 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:42,480 Okay, so let's get into the dark side of this beautiful emergence of life. 131 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:46,320 The fungal pathogen that has infected most of them and what it's going to do to them 132 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:48,760 because it's pretty gnarly on a scientific level. 133 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:50,960 It's quite cool, but also pretty fucked up. 134 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:52,680 Okay, so the upcoming super emergence... 135 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:55,040 Oh, I'm going to backtrack. 136 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:59,000 So this upcoming super emergence indicates that there was a very successful mating brood 137 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:00,880 emergence 17 years ago. 138 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:03,960 The brooding behavior exists mainly to overwhelm predators. 139 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,220 So this is a classic safety in numbers concept. 140 00:08:06,220 --> 00:08:10,800 If the population is so large that even with predation occurring, the sheer number of individuals 141 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:13,800 means that many will reproduce before shortly dropping dead. 142 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:18,840 So safety in numbers, it's a good biological thing. 143 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:23,200 So now that we have a baseline understanding of what these deafening forest cuties are, 144 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:26,480 let's unpack the hypersexual pathogenic fungus. 145 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:34,240 Well, the villain of this story is an entomorpho-re-lean fungus, which in normal terms is a pathogen 146 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:38,480 of insects known as Massospora cicadina. 147 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:39,480 Sounds Spanish. 148 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:40,480 Massopora cicadina. 149 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:45,380 It is the only known pathogen that is synchronized to the cicadas life cycle. 150 00:08:45,380 --> 00:08:50,640 So the mycosis or the fungal infection of the cicadas occurs in two stages. 151 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:58,000 So stage one is the infected cicadas who emerge as adults, produce haploid and conidio spores. 152 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:03,080 Cicadas will produce fungal spores of the pathogen to capable of infecting other actively 153 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:05,080 chorusing adult cicadas. 154 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:08,920 So all the adults have emerged, some of them are infected, they produce spores. 155 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:13,640 They can then hit another cicada, attach to another cicada, brush up against another 156 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:15,080 cicada and they will infect it. 157 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:19,320 The one adult cicada gets infected as another adult cicada, if that makes sense. 158 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:23,380 Stage two is later on and involves the same spores which then fall to the ground from 159 00:09:23,380 --> 00:09:25,080 infected adult cicadas. 160 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:31,120 They then infect the newly born nymphs as they burrow underground through the soil and 161 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:36,160 then they emerge as infected adults in 13 to 17 years time. 162 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:38,560 Brutal, brutal life stage. 163 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:44,080 So you can be infected as an adult during the four to six weeks of your life and die 164 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:50,600 or you can be born and start your life journey and also get infected and then live for 13 165 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:56,520 to 17 years carefree as a nymph underground and then come up and die faster than usual 166 00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:00,200 because something pretty bad happens to you if you're infected and I'll tell you right 167 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:01,200 now. 168 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:09,480 So what this infection does, so once the adults are infected the fungal spores will go into 169 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:15,360 their body, move down to their abdomen and erupt from their abdominal section causing 170 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:16,800 it to fall off. 171 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:20,880 So one third of their body which is usually quite large of the abdomen than the other 172 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:26,520 parts so half their body let's say falls off, it drops to the ground and with that their 173 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:29,000 genitals also fall off. 174 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:35,960 So the now breached abdomen will be exposed as the infecting fruiting body of spores I'll 175 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:36,960 say. 176 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:42,720 So basically the abdomen will fall off and it'll be replaced by a fruiting body of the 177 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:48,760 fungus which is made of spores, little tiny things, looks like little ribbons coming out 178 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:50,760 of it allowing for the dispersal. 179 00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:55,640 So that's pretty gross but also pretty interesting that a higher section of the saccata can drop 180 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:57,920 off and it's still technically alive. 181 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:00,680 Let's unpack this a little bit more if you're still with me. 182 00:11:00,680 --> 00:11:07,920 So the adults were observed studied by J.R.Cooley et al 2018 and were observed dragging their 183 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:13,520 fungal body, adults were observed dragging their fungal body leaving a trail of infectious 184 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:15,760 spores on trees behind them. 185 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:19,680 The clever little pathogen is also able to produce an amphetamine that increases the 186 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:25,080 sex drive of the cicadas making them extremely horny even though they are already extremely 187 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:28,800 horny because their entire purpose of life right now is to mate but they're becoming 188 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:33,240 hypersexual with this infection because it creates an amphetamine that increases their 189 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:36,640 sex drive making them extremely horny for all their brood counterpart. 190 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:41,720 Not only does it do this males infected with the disease will also observe changing their 191 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:42,720 behaviour. 192 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:45,320 So this is where it gets kind of cool and interesting because we're going to like how 193 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:51,760 a pathogen can literally change the chemistry and functioning of a particular species into 194 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:53,360 doing something completely different. 195 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:57,040 So this is the gay part that we were talking about. 196 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:02,160 So males were seen wing flicking in response to the calls of other males. 197 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:08,560 So this particular behaviour of wing flicking is only a behaviour that is done by sexually 198 00:12:08,560 --> 00:12:12,720 receptive females which they do to attract a mate that they hear calling. 199 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:15,480 So they'll flick their wings to know that they're like I'm ready. 200 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:22,800 Males that are infected with Masosospora cicadina have been observed doing this so they're pretending 201 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:28,280 that they are females to get other males who are not infected to come over to them and 202 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:33,520 try to mate with them thus touching their exposed fungal booty and then infecting the 203 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:35,960 other male. 204 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:36,960 Fungal booty. 205 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:37,960 That's quite nice. 206 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:38,960 Gross. 207 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:41,600 So this means that they are tricking non-infected males like I just said to fly over and attempt 208 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:45,920 to mate with them thus becoming in contact with the fungal body of the deceptive male 209 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:48,240 and contracting the disease themselves. 210 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:53,440 This then doubles the number of cicadas that are infected individual comes in contact with 211 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:58,920 because not only is if it's a male cicada that's infected will try to mate with females 212 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:02,400 but they also are attracting males so they're getting with the whole population. 213 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:06,160 It is a queer party for everyone. 214 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:10,160 Unfortunately the fungal pathogen is running the show which is not nice. 215 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:15,400 So this is theorised to be caused by the pathogens manipulation of the victims endocrine or nervous 216 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:16,400 system. 217 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:17,400 That's pretty cool. 218 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:21,880 Like in The Last of Us if anyone's watched that where cordyceps another type of fungus 219 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:28,200 which does actually exist in insects is able to take over the host's body and control them. 220 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:32,920 So in ants if they get infected by the cordyceps fungus they will literally crawl up to a higher 221 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:39,480 point in the canopy or like plants or something to a vantage point latch on die and be stuck 222 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:43,680 there and then the pathogen the cordyceps will erupt from their head in a fruiting body 223 00:13:43,680 --> 00:13:44,680 of spores. 224 00:13:44,680 --> 00:13:47,560 I don't know what The Last of Us is based off if that was able to be transmitted to 225 00:13:47,560 --> 00:13:48,560 humans. 226 00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:50,320 So okay okay bear with me. 227 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:57,080 The Last of Us season 2 it's no longer cordyceps it's now massospora cicadina has taken over 228 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:01,640 and all remaining humans become infected with it and are running around having a giant orgy 229 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:08,920 but plot twist no one has any genitals because they've fallen off or any arses it's just 230 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:11,480 it's a nightmare that's what it is. 231 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:12,480 Gross. 232 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:16,840 Okay so these findings were not unique to Magicicada massospora. 233 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:21,200 These findings raise the possibility that the general phenomenon of zombie insects may 234 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:26,280 also include parasites that specifically hijack the host's sexual behaviors which is kind 235 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:27,280 of what's going on here. 236 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:30,000 So that's pretty cool it's pretty interesting. 237 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:33,600 So to summarize what we've learned today or what you might not have learned because you 238 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:40,040 probably zoned out long ago is that periodical cicadas emerge in North America and the eastern 239 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:44,560 parts this particular genus known as Magisicata is made up of seven species. 240 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:50,920 A cicada is an insect they have six legs three body parts and two wings in this case they 241 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:55,260 emerge every 13 to 17 years depending on the particular type of species. 242 00:14:55,260 --> 00:15:00,120 They are called periodical because of this they spend 99 percent of their lives underground 243 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:02,900 as a nymph which is a juvenile form of an insect. 244 00:15:02,900 --> 00:15:07,560 They feed on the xylem roots of deciduous trees above and they count the changes in 245 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:11,840 the xylem fluid when the leaves fall off the tree every year to know when to emerge. 246 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:17,720 They emerge in mass exodus as a brood they then attach themselves to a tree nearby and 247 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:22,120 molt their exoskeleton to reveal their beautiful winged bodies and they live for four to six 248 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:28,920 weeks and their main purpose is to mate and in this case this giant emergence most of 249 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:33,200 them are infected already with massospora cicadina. 250 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:37,200 So most of them are already infected with this and they emerge and once they have shed 251 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:42,160 the exoskeleton and are fully fledged adult the fungus then activates itself because it 252 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:46,920 knows what's going on and spreads throughout the body the abdomen drops off it pushes itself 253 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:52,760 out as a fruiting body when it spreads its spores around and then the giant orgy of cicadas 254 00:15:52,760 --> 00:16:00,320 just becomes a hot pot for transmission of this pathogen and then the eggs that hatch 255 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:05,680 a few weeks later the nymphs crawl down through the grass into the soil to start their beautiful 256 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:10,440 life underground but most of them will encounter these microscopic spores on their way down 257 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:14,280 which have fallen from all the dead cicadas who have been infected above them and they 258 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:19,280 will become infected as a nymph and the pathogen will lie dormant for the entire duration of 259 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:23,680 its life cycle under there until it emerges as an adult and then quickly takes over and 260 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:25,480 replaces its abdomen and genitals. 261 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:30,960 So thank you for listening in and tuning into this episode this is my first full length 262 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:36,080 episode that I'm doing on the podcast so bear with me it will get better I promise it's 263 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:40,520 a passion project of mine that I just wanted to do it's really hard to do this so I'm learning 264 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:44,080 along the way so I'm sure there's lots of cringey moments or bits where you can hear 265 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:49,160 me lips smacking or sane arms or breathing really heavily so thank you for listening 266 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:52,840 the whole way through if you have I hope you found it interesting I have a lot more content 267 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:57,480 that I've gotten drafted up that I will be publishing soon so thank you I hope you enjoyed 268 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:11,400 this episode and as always remember this nature is gay so don't hide your DNA see ya.